Woman caught stealing leaves children at DeLand Walmart, police say

Monday

Jul 28, 2014 at 3:44 PMJul 28, 2014 at 9:47 PM

By Patricio G. Balonapatricio.balona@news-jrnl.com

A woman caught stealing at a DeLand Walmart handed the stolen items to employees who stopped her and walked out leaving her two small children behind, police said.Rebecca Stoltz, 26, of Lake Helen, was arrested and charged with child abuse, neglect of a child and first-degree petty theft, according to an arrest report. She was being held Monday at the Volusia County Branch Jail on $3,500 bail.Stoltz was seen with two small girls — a 6-year-old and a 9-year-old — at 8:30 p.m. Sunday in the women’s department where she picked up some items she hid in a plastic bag. She then tried to get out through the garden department, police said.Stoltz refused to go with the loss prevention officers who stopped her, handed over the stolen items — $44 worth — and left in a silver Nissan car without the children, police said.Walmart employees then found the two small girls, who were crying, police said. The children said they came to the store with their mother.Police went to the address listed on Stoltz’s driver’s license only to discover she no longer lived there.A woman approached officers at the store and asked if the two small girls had been found. She said Stoltz had called her and said the children were at Walmart and needed to be picked up. The woman would not give her name but gave police Stoltz’s number, the report states.Police called Stoltz to come back to the store but Stoltz said she didn’t have transportation, investigators said.Stoltz later showed up and was arrested at the store. The children were taken by a family member, the report indicates.